Motor-vehicle door latch

ABSTRACT

A motor-vehicle door latch has a pivotal keeper rotationally coupled to an operator pivotal by either the inside or outside door handle to open the latch. A locking element is slidable on the latch housing to prevent rotation of the operator by either door handle. The operator is formed with an arm which blocks and prevents sliding of the locking element in the open position of the keeper. Actuation of either door handle, however, pivots the operator and its arm to allow the locking element to be displaced to lock the door. Thus when the door is opened one of its handles must be actuated before depressing the inner door-locking button, then the door may be simply swung shut to lock it.

mte States Patent 1 1 [111 3,840,253 Brackmann Oct. 8, 1974 i 1 MOTOR-VEHICLE DOOR LATCH 3.695.660 /1972 Fetters .f. 292/216 [75] Inventor: ggir'frtmlzrackmann, Verlbert, Primary Examiner GeO. V- Larkin y Attorney, Agent, or FirmKarl F. Ross; Herbert [73] Assignee: Firma Arn. Keikert Sohne, Dubno Heiligenhaus, Germany 1221 Filed: Sept. 5, 1972 [571 ABSTRACT A motor-vehicle door latch has a pivotal keeper rota- [211 Appl' 286406 tionally coupled to an operator pivotal by either the inside or outside door handle to open the latch. A Foreign Application Priority Data locking element is slidable on the latch housing to pre- Sept. 9, 1971 Germany 2145059 vent rotation of the Operamr y either door handle- The operator is formed with an arm which blocks and 52 us. (:1. 292/216, 292/DIG. 25 Prevents Sliding 9f the locking element in the p P [51] Int. Cl. E05c 3/26 Sition of the p Actuation of either door handle 58 Field'of Search 292/198, 216, DIG. 25, however, Pivots the Operator and its arm to allow the a 292 1 2 99 230 210 177 229- locking element to be displaced to lock the door. Thus when the door is opened one of its handles must be actuated before depressing the inner door-locking but- 5 References Cited ton, then the door may be simply swung shut to lock UNITED STATES PATENTS 5.591.220 7/1971 Sandor 292/216 6 Claims, 6 Drawing Figures MOTOR-VEHICLE DOOR LATCH FIELD OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a motor-vehicle door latch. More specifically this invention concerns such a latch which may be locked shut from the outside without the necessity of using the door-opening key.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION A motor-vehicle door latch usually is mounted on a door edge and coacts with a bolt projecting from the doorpost. A pivotal latching fork can engage over this bolt to secure the door. Alternatively a short rack is provided on the doorpost, with a rotatable gear on the door edge meshing with this rack to hold the door closed. In either case means is provided to prevent rotation of the latching element, be it the fork or the gear, in order to lock the door shut.

The latch element can be freed to allow opening of the door by means of handles on the outside and on the inside of the door. In addition means is provided to prevent actuation of these handles, or at least the outside handle, or to decouple them from the latch mechanism to prevent unauthorized opening of the door. This means takes the form of a simple button or lever on the inside of the door, and a key mechanism on the outside of the door.

In order to lock up the vehicle on leaving, it is usually not necessary to use a key to lock the last door, rather the operator need merely actuate the inner locking mechanism, then depress the outside actuating handle and hold it depressed as he shuts the door. If this handle is not held down the door will not lock, in order to prevent the driver from accidentally locking his keys in the car. The requirement of an additional action on the operator's part is psychologically designed to prevent accidental locking.

Nonetheless, such a system is disadvantageous. Especially in cars which have pull-type outside door handles it is difficult to so lock the door.

OBJECTS OF THE INVENTION It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide an improved door latch for a motor-vehicle.

Another object is the provision of a latch which allows the car door to be simply closed while effecting a locking of this door, but which will reduce the possibility of an accidental or unintentional locking of the door.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION These objects are attained according to the present invention by providing a blocking element on the actuating member which is coupled to the pivotal latching element or keeper responsible for holding the door shut. This blocking element abuts, only in the position of the keeper corresponding to the open position of the door, against the body which serves to lock the door in order to prevent this body from being operated except when the door handle itself is actuated or the door is closed. In this manner the door is locked without use of the key by actuating either of the door handles and, while holding it actuated, operating the lock button or lever on the inside of the door. Then the door handle can be released and the door swung to, the door locking shut when it closes. Since the inside locking member must be operated to free the inner handle and allow opening of the door, and since it can only be actuated with the door open to lock the door if the outer handle is actuated, unintentional locking of the door is virtually impossible.

DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING The above and other objects, features, and advantages will become apparent from the following, reference being made to the accompanying drawing in which:

FIGS. 1 and 1A are side views of a door edge provided with a latch according to the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a top view of the latch and door edge shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is an enlarged-scale side view of the mechanism of the latch, flattened-out as shown by the dotdash lines of FIG. 2, seen from the inside of the door; and

FIGS. 4 and 5 are views similar to FIG. 3 showing the latch mechanism in various different positions.

SPECIFIC DESCRIPTION FIGS. 1 and 2 show the latch in the open position. This latch comprises a housing 1 carried on the edge of a motor-vehicle door 2. A bolting fork 3 has two legs 4 adapted to embrace and capture a bolt 11 projecting from a doorpost 12 when the door 2 is closed. One of the legs 4 is formed with a'notch 5 in which a rotatable keeper 13 carried on a rotatable pin 6 is received as described in the commonly assigned patent application Ser. No. 220,037 filed Jan. I972 by Hans-Dieter Watermann under the title MOTOR-VEHICLE DOOR WITH LOCK MECHANISM ONLY ACTUATABLE WITH DOOR CLOSED (now US. Pat. No. 3,781,045).

FIG. 5 shows the mechanism of the latch as it would appear with the door closed and unlocked. Rotatably fixed on the pin 6 carrying the keeper 13 is an operator 7 which when rotated clockwise, as seen in FIG. 5, frees the fork 3 and allows the door to be opened. This rotation can be effected from inside the door by a door handle 14 (FIG. 3) connected to a pivotal actuator 8 which has an arm 8a engageable with an arm 7a of the operator 7. The actuator 8 is pivoted on the housing 1 latch is operated from the outside. The dot-dash line position of actuator 8 in FIG. 3 shows how this member also operates to unlatch the door.

A large locking element or lock 9 is vertically slidable on the housing 1 on two pins 1a fitting through corresponding slots. This element 9 carries the pivot 18b for the outside door-opening lever 18 and a spring 18c which normally pulls the foot 18a out of contact with the arm 7b. This element 9 can be shifted from outside the door by a key cylinder 17 or from inside the door by a locking button 19. When the element 9 is pushed down it displaces the lever 18 out of contact with the handle 16 so that the outer door handle is no longer connected to the latch mechanism and is therefore unable to actuate the latch. In addition the element 9 is formed with a nose 9a engageable behind another arm 8b formed on the actuator 8 to prevent pivoting of same and actuation of the latch thereby. This is shown in solid lines in FIG. 4, the dot-dash line position corresponding to the solid-line position of FIG. 5.

The operator or operating body 7 is formed with another arm 10 in turn formed with a cutout 100 which in the open position of the door seats against the lock element 9 and prevents it from being slid down to lock the door. In the closed position of the door shown in FiG. this arm or blocking element 10 is rotated slightly clockwise, since when the keeper 13 engages in the notch 5 it is not at an end position (FIG. 1A), so that the arm 10 clears the bent over portion of the element 9 best visible in FIG. 2. A pin is provided on the element 9 to capture this arm 10 (by dropping into recess 10a see FIG. 3) and prevent any actuation of the operator 7.

When the door is shut, in the FIG. 5 position, it can be locked from either the inside or the outside by either depressing the button 19 or rotating the cylinder 17 to lower the element 9, into the solid-line position shown in FIG. 4. The door is opened after lifting the element 9 by actuating either of the door-opening members or handles 14 or 16 to rotate the operator 7 and the keeper 13. Once the door is open, however, the arm 10 will return back under the element 9 and prevent it from being pushed down. This displacement is made possible by actuation of either the inner or outer door handle and subsequent actuation of the door button 19, with the door handle being held in the actuated position as the button is depressed. The actuation of either door handle simply pivots the operator 7 sufficiently to pull the arm 10 clear from under the element 9. Thereafter the door handle may be released and the door simply swung closed, the door being locked shut. Obviously then a passenger wishing to lock his door need merely depress the inside handle as he opens it and then push the locking button down. Thereafter he may gather his packages and push the door shut without having to bother to lock it with a key or holdthe handle while closing it.

The lock of the present invention thus has all of the safety features of any existing latch such as insensitivity to outside shocks and impossibility of opening the door from inside when it is locked without releasing the lock. In addition locking of the door unintentionally is practically ruled out and the key need not be used to lock it from outside.

I claim:

1. A motor-vehicle door latch comprising:

mechanism including a keeper for releasably securing a door edge to a doorpost, said keeper being pivotal between a closed position and an open position;

an operating body on said door edge fixed to said keeper for joint rotation therewith between said open and closed positions;

a door-opening member engageable with said operating body and displaceable between an actuated position shifting said keeper into said open position and an unactuated position with said keeper in said closed position;

a lock operatively connectable with said dooropening member and displaceable between a first position preventing actuation of said operating body by said door-opening member and a second position permitting actuation of said operating body by said door-opening member; and

a blocking element on said operating body. engageable in said open position of said keeper with said lock to prevent displacement of same into said first position from said second position.

2. The latch defined in claim 1, further comprising another such door-opening member, one of said dooropening members being accessible from outside the door, the other member being accessible from inside said door.

3. The latch defined in claim 1 wherein in said closed position of said keeper said'blocking element clears said lock and allows displacement of same from said second into said first position.

4. The latch defined in claim 1 wherein said lock is slidable and said blocking element is an arm formed on said operating body and engageable with said lock.

5. The latch defined in claim 4, further comprising another such door-opening member accessible from outside the door and pivotally carried on said lock, the first-mentioned door-opening member being accessible from inside the door.

6. The latch defined in claim 5 wherein said mechanism includes a pivotal fork carried on the door edge and operatively engageable with saidkeeper, and a bolt on the doorpost lockingly engageable with said fork. 

1. A motor-vehicle door latch comprising: mechanism including a keeper for releasably securing a door edge to a doorpost, said keeper being pivotal between a closed position and an open position; an operating body on said door edge fixed to said keeper for joint rotation therewith between said open and closed positions; a door-opening member engageable with said operating body and displaceable between an actuated position shifting said keeper into said open position and an unactuated position with said keeper in said closed position; a lock operatively connectable with said door-opening member and displaceable between a first position preventing actuation of said operating body by said door-opening member and a second position permitting actuation of said operating body by said door-opening member; and a blocking element on said operating body engageable in said open position of said keeper with said lock to prevent displacement of same into said first position from said second position.
 2. The latch defined in claim 1, further comprising another such door-opening member, one of said door-opening members being accessible from outside the door, the other member being accessible from inside said door.
 3. The latch defined in claim 1 wherein in said closed position of said keeper said blocking element clears said lock and allows displacement of same from said second into said first position.
 4. The latch defined in claim 1 wherein said lock is slidable and said blocking element is an arm formed on said operating body and engageable with said lock.
 5. The latch defined in claim 4, further comprising another such door-opening member accessible from outside the door and pivotally carried on said lock, the first-mentioned door-opening member being accessible from inside the door.
 6. The latch defined in claim 5 wherein said mechanism includes a pivotal fork carrIed on the door edge and operatively engageable with said keeper, and a bolt on the doorpost lockingly engageable with said fork. 